Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall-like weather brings with it a lot of things -- specifically: Nestling in Your Kitchen!

• 3/4 cup oat flour (regular oats blended)
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Take regular old fashioned oats or quick oats and blend them until they resemble a flour or powder in a blender or food processor.
2. If you don't have quick oats, pulse old fashioned oats a few times in a blender or food processor until they resemble quick oats.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the oat flour (measured after blending NOT before), old-fashioned oats, quick oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4. In another bowl, stir together the vanilla extract, large egg, and brown sugar. Melt the coconut oil and let it cool slightly before adding to the bowl (Make sure to measure the coconut oil in it's liquid state). Stir until well combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the dark chocolate chips.
6. Cover the dough tightly and chill the dough for 30 minutes to an hour or until the dough has hardened enough to scoop out cookie balls. (If you chill longer than a day, let the dough sit out for 15 or so minutes so you are able to scoop it into balls). If you don't chill your dough these cookies will be flatter than a pancake! The coconut oil needs a little bit of time in the fridge to firm up again.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. Using a cookie scoop (and pack these in the scoop very tightly or they may crumble), scoop out balls of the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Press a few more chocolate chips in the tops if desired.
9. Depending on the size, bake for 7-9 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges. They may look a little underdone in the center, but they are the very best slightly under-baked and they will harden after cooling.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to stay on the baking sheet for another 2 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.

Suggestion: Firmly pack the dough!  Mine were a bit crumbly, and I know my dough was not firmly packed! I also didn't use parchment paper... may have affected the asthetics, but not the taste!